Connexions Greater Merseyside

 Your Working Future

This section has articles about the Greater Merseyside labour market and trends in employment.

New articles will be added as new information becomes available and old items will be removed, so if you don’t find anything that interests you on this visit, don’t be put off, visit again in a few weeks.

The way people work and the jobs that they do have changed dramatically over the past two or three decades and these continue to change, if you still have a few years of school ahead of you, it is possible that the job that you will go into when you leave education doesn’t even exist yet, or that how people do the jobs or careers you are considering will change between now and when you start work.

Also while some parts of the economy grow and create more jobs, others contract providing fewer jobs. This is the place to find out which sectors of the economy (for example, care work, IT, hotels and restaurants) will probably offer more or fewer opportunities in the next few years, what employers will be looking for in applicants for jobs and what working conditions will be like.

ConstructionSkills help for displaced construction sector apprentices

ConstructionSkills recently launched a matching service for construction industry apprentices who have been displaced by their employer before completing their apprenticeships due to the recession. The ConstructionSkills Apprenticeship Matching Service will look for another employer to enable the apprentice to complete their apprenticeship. This could be through temporary short term contracts or one employer for the remaining period. There is no time limit on this, so if you were displaced at the start of the recession, and still want to complete your apprenticeship, they can still be involved.

ConstructionSkills are also offering support packages to employers to enable them to keep apprentices they may otherwise displace, due to the recession. It's possible that the employer may be able to benefit from an apprenticeship grant (they may need to become members of Constructionskills and pay the levy).

Employers with opportunities, who are looking for partly- trained workers, who they can then help to complete their apprenticeship, are also being sought. Apprentices, their parents, employers and Connexions staff can find out more by contacting the ConstructionSkills Apprenticeship Matching Service on 0844 875 0086 or on the website http://www.cskills.org/supportbusiness/newrecruits/apprenticeships/ams/

National Trust's new 'Skills for the Future' training programme

The National Trust has announced that it has been awarded £529,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to provide new training opportunities under the Skills for the Future programme.

The funding will support the Trust's on-going commitment to training and increasing the diversity of people working in the heritage sector. The Trust's new 'Heritage Skills Passport Training Programme' is aimed at those currently under-represented in the heritage workforce from a diverse range of backgrounds including young people aged 16-25, recent graduates, members of the black and minority ethnic (BME) community and disabled people.

The programme will provide experience, skills and training at Trust properties around the country but it is hoped that people will be encouraged to apply to properties local to them. The programme will offer 30, one-year, paid bursary placements. Each trainee will receive £12,000 a year plus a budget for travel and training costs and their year will combine on-the-job training with National Trust professionals at a selected property with some off-site work. The Trust will be working closely with sector partners and awarding bodies to investigate practical and affordable ways of accrediting a National Trust skills passport training framework during this 3 year period, so that on successful completion of the programme candidates will benefit from this and help them gain employment in the sector.

The first ten bursaries will begin in March 2011 and will be themed around skills and training in Houses and Collections.

The next ten placements, beginning in January 2012, will focus on Visitor Experience and the last ten, beginning in January 2013, will centre on Horticulture and the Countryside.

Dame Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust said: "We are delighted to have received this funding from Heritage Lottery Fund. It gives us an opportunity to share our properties and knowledge with a new group of people, crucially increasing the skills base and diversity of the heritage workforce."

For full details of the National Trust 'Heritage Skills Passport Training Programme' and how to apply, visit www.ntjobs.org.uk or telephone Timothy Payton on 01793 817882, email: timothy.payton@nationaltrust.org.uk